Rock.

Mick, Keith . . . And Darryl

South Side Native Jones Is The Musician Who Keeps The Stones Rolling

April 19, 1998|By Greg Kot, Tribune Rock Critic.

Difficult to believe, but the most popular man in Chicago at the moment may not be Michael Jordan. In the days leading up to the Rolling Stones' concert Thursdayat the United Center, the title for Mr. Popularity would probably have to be bestowed upon Darryl Jones, the 36-year-old South Side native who has been the Stones' bassist for the last four years.

"People I knew in kindergarten start calling me up asking for tickets," says Jones with a chuckle when reached at his hotel room in Buenos Aires before a recent Stones concert there. "It seems whenever the Stones come to town, I hear from all these long-lost friends."

Jones' following is big enough that he had his own cheering section of nearly 200 people when the Stones played Soldier Field in 1994. Nearly 100 members of the extended Jones family showed up last September when the Stones opened their current "Bridges to Babylon" tour at the same stadium. Among those attending were the bassist's parents, James and Sara Jones.

"I'm definitely going to the show at the United Center," says James Jones, 72, who lives with his wife in the same South Side ranch house where they raised Darryl and his older brother, Les. "I've never been in there before, but I have every plan to be there on April 23. A lot of people have been calling about tickets, but I just tell them they're going to have to wait until Darryl gets home."

He hasn't been home much since 1983, when Miles Davis summoned a 21-year-old Jones to New York to play bass. He stepped foot on stage with Davis for the first time in June of that year, and since then has toured and, in some cases, recorded with some of the biggest names in rock, pop and jazz. Besides Davis, his credits include Sting, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, Herbie Hancock and Eric Clapton.

Nearly 10 years to the day after hooking up with Davis, Jones got another call summoning him to New York for an audition, this time for a certain rock band. Despite his impressive resume, Jones was hardly jaded about the opportunity to play with the Stones. "I thought it could be fun, and after seeing Keith Richards play in the '80s with (his side project band) the X-pensive Winos, I thought it might be interesting to play rock 'n' roll," Jones says.

Since passing the audition, he has helped the Stones record three albums, "Voodoo Lounge," "Stripped" and "Bridges to Babylon," and participated in two highly lucrative world tours. Jones, though not considered a full-fledged member of the Stones, is the only sideman on the tour who performs on every song, because his instrument is essential to the band's sound.

"I've done some other big gigs, big tours," he says. "But I've never done anything quite as big as this--never with this many people out on the road, never played consistently to this many people night after night. The fervor that surrounds these guys, it's different than any other band. I'm aware every day of how special this is."

Jones' opportunity arrived unexpectedly. After 31 years, bassist Bill Wyman, saying he had grown tired of the band's rigorous touring schedule, quit the Stones after the 1989-90 "Steel Wheels" tour. Guitarist Keith Richards openly fretted about the fate of the band and cursed Wyman for abandoning the band's "engine room," a reference to the rhythm section anchored by the bassist and drummer Charlie Watts that had provided the foundation for all of the band's hits. An international search for a replacement turned up many high-profile candidates, but when a decision had to be made, it seemed only fitting that the Stones would turn to a Chicagoan. After all, the band's founders--Richards, Mick Jagger and the late Brian Jones--had originally bonded over their passion for the postwar Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter.

"In the end, Mick and I left the decision to Charlie," Richards said last fall before the tour opened in Chicago. "We went with Darryl mainly because of his experience with Miles Davis. Charlie is a jazz man himself (Watts records and tours with his own jazz big band in between Stones obligations), and he and Darryl had a feel for each other from the start. As Darryl has remarked since being with us, in some ways it is like being in a jazz band."

Don Was, who as co-producer of the last three Stones albums worked closely with Jones, says the bassist "came into the band with a great deal of respect for who they were. He wasn't there to show off, but to provide a solid foundation. His humility coupled with an intensely deep groove were the hallmarks. And he kicked Charlie Watts in the ass, because Charlie seemed totally re-energized by having a new guy back there."

Whereas Wyman played more like a third guitarist with little riffs and fills that left big spaces in the music for the drums, Jones has brought a simpler, swinging, soul-style groove to the music.